#IM A SHUT IN HOW TO#

We can always figure out how to flame me later. Set aside any biases, hold back any prejudices and save judgment for later. The label will be used as a tool in uncovering meaning, it wont be the meaning meaning is not a label. Instead, we are going to use it only as a convenient placeholder to refer to a spectrum of individuals similar to, but not necessarily, like me. We aren't going to stick to any hard definitions of hikikimori. It has been used as a label to describe an emerging phenomenon in Japan, that of adolescents withdrawing from the world. Hikikomori is a Japanese word which means 'pulling inward'. Instead of fighting an uphill battle against meanings, let us leave the words we know behind and introduce a new one. The meanings we assume of words are our biggest obstacle to communication. Preconceptions are a difficult thing to overcome. Some picture a Howard Hughes type, they imagine man that harvests his fignernails and wears tinfoil hats to keep the aliens out. Some picture a crazy, bearded, old fellow, cooking up whiskey deep in the Appalachian wilderness. To some, a hermit is a monastic human living high in the Himalayas connecting with his inner self through meditation and isolation. These words mean different things depending on what media you have been exposed to. We are called shut-ins, hermits, recluses and so on. There are a lot of names for people like me. I'm not agoraphobic, I'm not depressed, and I'm not insane 2. I venture out into the world only when it is necessary to maintain my isolation. I don't leave the house for months at a time 1.

There is now a more readable version at you should probably read that one instead.įor five years I have been a recluse. This was first published on Feb 19th, 2013.

Im a shut in